[§302A-1510] Sustainable schools initiative. (a) The department shall establish a goal of becoming net-zero with respect to energy use, producing as much renewable energy as the department consumes across all public school facilities, by January 1, 2035.
(b) The department shall use the amount and value of energy consumed by the department across all public school facilities during the 2015-2016 fiscal year as the benchmark for measuring the department's progress toward the energy usage goal set forth in subsection (a).
(c) The department shall submit an annual report that shall include information on:
(d) The department shall expedite the cooling of all public school classrooms to a temperature acceptable for student learning. When implementing classroom cooling measures, the department, and any contractor hired to implement classroom cooling measures, shall maximize energy efficiency and installation and operating cost savings over the entire life of the project.
(e) Pursuant to this section, the department shall include in the report the status of the implementation of measures taken to cool public school classrooms as required by subsection (d). The report shall include the following information:
(f) The department shall report its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session. [L 2016, c 176, §2]